[Fwd: Story Musgrave Interview]
FYI,
Story Musgrave now works for Disney and thinks "The most important
priority should be to have low-cost reliable access to space ..."
"We need to assume that "the Big We" -- the President, the Congress, the
NASA,
the aerospace industry, the public -- right now cannot manage any space
program. Think about it: We have spent $20 billion over 14 years for a
space
station and we do not yet have a screw in orbit!"
Mark Reiff
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Story Musgrave Interview
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 11:54:31 EDT
From: JamesOberg@xxxxxxx
October 20, 1998
NY Times
A Conversation With Dr. F. Story Musgrave
Watching From Sidelines as NASA Regains Spotlight
------------------------------------------------------
By CLAUDIA DREIFUS
It was a sweltering recent autumn afternoon and F. Story Musgrave, 63,
physician, poet, sky diver and now former astronaut, was sitting in a
Florida
hotel room and fiddling with a recalcitrant air-conditioner. "I'll get
this
going in a flash," declared Musgrave, the former space walker. "I'm real
good
at fixing things."
Indeed, he is. In 1993, when the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
needed someone to fix the nearsighted Hubble Space Telescope, Musgrave
was the
successful mission commander. Three years later, he was back in space,
deploying and retrieving satellites for the study of the origin and
composition of stars.
In all, he has flown on the shuttle six times, more than anyone else.
Last
year, under conditions not entirely of his choosing, Musgrave retired
from the
space program. He explained why he left his "calling" in September 1997,
after
the air-conditioner kicked on.
Q. Why did you leave the space program?
A. They told me in the most unambiguous terms that they weren't going to
fly
me anymore. I could have fought it. Lots of people urged me to. But I
just
figured that space flight is a huge privilege, and I've had an
incredible
career.
Q. Do you think you were eased out because of your age? You were 62.
A. I don't know. I do think NASA is uncomfortable with people who make a
career of being an astronaut. For most astronauts, NASA is a stepping
stone to
other things. I think they get uncomfortable with someone who believes,
"Space
is it and I put it ahead of institutions." I had done that. I always
said,
"Space is my calling." My own guess is that this was as important as my
age.
Q. You were the oldest of the astronauts. Were you a good subject for
experiments on aging and space?
A. Oh, yeah. Agewise, you can't miss with me. If you want to make some
conclusions about age and space, there are decades worth of scientific
data on
me in NASA's own format.
Also, I can fly as a full-fledged crew member who does everything, not
just a
body they are using for study.
The thing I learned about aging and space is that the more I did, the
easier
it got. Whatever functions you lose because of aging, you gain in terms
of
experience. I remember that after landing from the Hubble repair
mission, I
did five hours of medical exams, got on an airplane, flew home and went
to
work the next day at 8 A.M. I made the circadian shift in one night. My
last
shuttle flight was even easier. I walked off and was steady as a rock.
Q. NASA will be flying John Glenn, 77, into space soon. Are you feeling
a
twinge of envy about his being given the mission?
A. I feel we should fly him. He was the first American into orbit. It's
probably the right thing to do in terms of historic closure. And I feel
that
the reason he is flying, and I'm not, are probably not related. The real
reason he's going up is because he's John Glenn, and he's a Senator, and
he
convinced them to fly him. After they made that decision, science --
looking
at issues of aging in space -- became the rationale for justifying it.
Actually, I think it will be difficult to make many scientific
conclusions
from Senator Glenn's flight. What they are doing is taking a John Glenn,
who
has led the life of a Senator for decades, and all of a sudden,
switching his
life to that of an astronaut. Now, what effect does that have? Are you
really
studying space flight? Due to the multiple factors involved, such as the
total
change in the man's life style, it will be very difficult to attribute
any
observed changes to age alone.
The other thing that bothers me about the Glenn flight is that he's
chosen to
do his space part time, while still a Senator, while still living in
Washington. We all know that you get out of a space flight what you put
into
it. I do wonder if he'll have much of a space experience, other than
just the
survival training.
Q. What's a "space experience?"
A. Two principal things: what you see out the window and also your
cognitive
sense of your mind and body in terms of the free-fall condition.
When I go up, I give myself over to the space experience, surrender to
it, let
it touch me. I'm always saying to myself: "Story, look around. Don't
just go
out there and fix the Hubble, look around."
Q. A more earthbound question: Are you critical of the way the space
program
has been administered?
A. Listen, NASA's a magnificent organization at the technical level. I
have
such an incredible pride and love for the people who work space -- not
so much
for the leadership.
We need to assume that "the Big We" -- the President, the Congress, the
NASA,
the aerospace industry, the public -- right now cannot manage any space
program. Think about it: We have spent $20 billion over 14 years for a
space
station and we do not yet have a screw in orbit!
Another serious problem is that launch costs are too high. The most
important
priority should be to have low-cost reliable access to space, and we
seem to
have no interest in that. I worry that we have not developed a new
launch
vehicle in over 40 years. We're still flying Atlases and Titans and
Deltas
from the 50's.
Q. Do you think the space station will actually happen?
A. I believe so.
We are into it for $20 billion and 14 years. It would be extraordinarily
difficult to turn away from that kind of investment. The current posture
we
are in, however, is absolutely desperate.
The posture that bothers me with the shuttle costing more than $600
million a
flight and with our flying this very old, very fragile technology, is an
accident could happen and the whole deck of cards will come down. You
can't do
the space station without the shuttle, and the shuttle is old and
fragile.
Another problem with the current posture is that the space station will
dictate resources and make them dedicated to Earth orbit activities for
the
next 10 or 15 years. Also, I worry that it's all going to be so
expensive, so
bureaucracy-bound, that we won't be doing cutting-edge projects anymore.
With
this current posture, we may not pursue that science which bridges
cosmology
and philosophy -- the science that gets at who am I and what is the
meaning of
all this. We must do science that touches to the core -- which means
science
that asks, "Who am I?" Anything less does not excite the public.
Q. A more earthbound question: You've recently moved your home base from
Texas
to Orlando. Why?
A. I had a vision for decades that when something brought an end to my
calling
I would get into a car and drive to Hobby Airport and go to Orlando.
That's as
far as the vision went. I never saw anything else. Then, when I decided
to
leave NASA, Disney asked me to be involved in their work. So the vision
kind
of came true.
Right now, I'm a consultant to Disney's various projects. I work on
creative
ideas for new resorts, new parks, new pavilions. I'm consulting on
movies. One
of my own personal goals here, is to find ways to communicate the
experience
of space to people without their actually having been there. Without
being
specific, there are a lot of possibilities at Disney for doing that. In
Orlando, there's a lot of interesting work going on in virtual reality.
I also
like Orlando. It's an esthetic place and the beach, and what happens at
the
Kennedy Space Center, is not very far away.
Q. How are you adjusting to your new status as an ex-astronaut?
A. Who's "ex?"
Q. You are.
A. I'm not sure how it is. Do I miss it? I've got to. But I can go into
space
any time I want to.
Q. Through meditation?
A. Well, through imagination. I put myself there. I do that. Listen, I
got
dealt a card, and went forward with it.
-----------
A Career In the Stars
A veteran of six space shuttle flights, Dr. F. Story Musgrave spent 53
days
in space.
CHALLENGER
April 4 - April 9, 1983
During Challenger?s maiden voyage, Dr. Musgrave and Don Peterson
conducted the
first space walks from the space shuttle.
Mission duration: 5 days, 23 minutes, 42 seconds.
CHALLENGER
July 29-Aug. 6, 1985
Dr. Musgrave served as the systems engineer during launching and
re-entry, and
as a pilot during the orbital operations.
Mission duration: 7 days, 22 hours, 45 minutes, 26 seconds.
DISCOVERY
Nov. 22 - Nov. 27, 1989
This classified mission carried payloads for the Department of Defense.
Mission duration: 5 days, 7 minutes, 32 seconds.
ATLANTIS
Nov. 24 - Dec. 1, 1991
The shuttle crew successfully deployed a Defense Department satellite,
and
conducted numerous medical tests to support longer duration flights.
Mission duration: 6 days, 22 hours, 50 minutes, 42 seconds.
ENDEAVOUR
Dec. 2 - Dec. 13, 1993
Dr. Musgrave performed three space walks in a successful effort to
repair the
Hubble Space Telescope.
Mission duration: 10 days,19 hours, 59 minutes.
COLUMBIA
Nov.19 to Dec. 7, 1996
The crew deployed and retrieved research satellites and logged a record
278
earth orbits over 7 million miles.
Mission duration: 17 days, 15 hours, 53 minutes.
Date
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